SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/12/2020 10:55 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-3 “God’s Program”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
6:10a
Message of the verse: “10 ’Thy kingdom come.”
As
I begin this SD I want to remind everyone who reads it that the purpose of me doing
these Spiritual Diaries is to understand what the Bible has to say about how I
am to live my life as a believer in Jesus Christ. I desire to know my Lord more and more as I
study His Word. 2 Timothy 2:10 is the
verse that I chose to name my blogs as it says “Study to show thyself approved
unto God, a workman who needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of
truth” (KJ21). There are many times that
I will use quotations from people in the ministry whom I trust and respect, and
so as I continue what I began yesterday in quoting more of John MacArthur’s
book “Jesus’ Pattern of Prayer,” I will continue to do so this morning as I
have explained this book goes into more detail of what is called “The Lord’s
Prayer,” even though in truth it is “The Disciples Prayer.” Please enjoy this SD today as we continue to
learn what it was that Jesus wanted to teach us about prayer.
“Let’s
look more closely at the phrase ‘Thy kingdom come.’
“The
word ‘kingdom,’ basileia in the
Greek, means ‘rule’ or ‘reign.’ I wish
that everywhere that word appears in Scripture it had been translated ‘reign.’ I think of land and of people riding horses,
pomp and ceremony, maidens and knights, and castles and moats and walls and
laws and all that. Even Pilate asked
Jesus if He was a king, implying, ‘What kind of a king are you?’ (John 18:33-37).
“His
kingdom is the rule and reign of Christ, His sovereignty, for which we are to
pray.
“These
three words, “Thy kingdom come’ introduce three questions.
“Number
one, whose is the kingdom? It’s ‘thy’
kingdom. Who is ‘thy.’
“Matthew
6:9 says it’s God’s kingdom, not a human kingdom. We are not of this world. We have been translated out of this world;
our citizenship is not here. We are sojourners
and pilgrims. We look for a city whose
builder and maker is God.
“I’m
amazed how people think they can preserve the church through politics. It cannot be done. No human institution can dovetail with the
kingdom, and that is why when Christians endeavor to advance the kingdom
through politics, they find themselves with strange bedfellows.
“One
of the tragedies in the early years of America was that the church relinquished
to the government the care of widows and orphans. Now the government has taken over social
responsibilities that belong to the church, and we don’t know how to get them
back again. If somebody had thought long
ago that the kingdom cannot be run through the government, maybe we would not
have gotten into this.
“But
‘thy kingdom’ is unique. Man-made
kingdoms come and go. Egypt came and
went, Syria came and went, Assyria came and went, Babylon came and went,
Alexander the Great conquered everything from Europe to India and the north of
Europe into Egypt. But it too is gone;
nothing is left of that great empire.
Historians tell us that at least twenty-one great civilizations are
extinct.
“What
Daniel said in reference to Babylon could refer to all nations of the
world: ‘God hath numbered thy kingdom,
and finished it…Thou are weighed in the balance, and art found wanting…Thy
kingdom is divided ‘(Daniel 5:26-28).
Earthly kingdoms go the way of all flesh—the descending power of sin,
decay, distress, and destruction are inevitable.
“But
the kingdom of God is bigger than any nation.
Our Lord said to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,
and He would take care of all those other things that earthly kingdoms provide
for physical well-being (Matthew 6:33).
“And so what are our
prayers? ‘Lord, I pray that You will do
whatever advances Your kingdom, whatever brings Your rule and Your reign.’
“Whose
is the kingdom? His.
“Second,
what is the kingdom? What is the rule
and reign of Christ? The kingdom of
heaven, or the kingdom of God (Matthew 19:23-24 uses both to refer to the same
reality), is a phrase used by Jesus more than any other. He said this in Luke 4:43: ‘I must preach the kingdom of God…for
therefore am I sent.’
“Whatever
this kingdom is, it is the heart of His message. It is the heart of the plan, the heart of
history, the apex of humanity. Nothing
else matters.
“Jesus
spent all of His time with His disciples teaching them the kingdom, the
kingdom, the kingdom. And when He died
and rose again, He had forty more days.
Acts 1:2-3 says He appeared to His disciples and gave them commandments pertaining
to the kingdom of God.
“Jesus
spoke of the kingdom in three ways:
past, present, and future. He
spoke in Matthew 8:11 of the kingdom past that embodied Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob. He spoke of the kingdom present
in Luke 17:21; ‘the kingdom of God is within you.’ And He spoke of the future when He prayed, ‘Thy
kingdom come.’
“What
is this kingdom that is past, present, and future all at the same time? In John 18:36 Jesus said, ‘My kingdom is not
of this world,’ so whatever it is, it will not be like what we are used
to. Christ’s kingdom is both universal
and earthly.
“God
is the universal King, and He mediates that rulership through His Son, by whom
He made the worlds, and of whom is said in Colossians1:17, ‘He is before all
things, and by him all things consist.’
That is the universal kingdom. It
is established in heaven, and the Disciples’ Prayer is to let it come to this
earth. This one little infinitesimal
speck of sand in an infinite universe that rebels against holy God, let it be
brought into harmony with His will.
“It’s
a great concept. Although His name is
hallowed in heaven, it is not always so on earth. The purpose of prayer, then is to bring His
kingdom to earth in all aspects that He might put down sin, rebellion, and
evil.”
We
will stop here with one more question to go which, Lord willing we will deal
with tomorrow.
11/12/2020 11:38 AM
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